Comment Re:test (Score 1) 480
And make sure it has a leap seconds file configured properly.
Comment Re:Great idea - it can replace the Gas Tax! (Score 1) 713
Tax-free fuel exists, so for vehicles that spend all their time off-road (lawnmowers, farm equipment), you can buy that. It's dyed for detection purposes although I can't imagine what would give a cop probable cause to sample your gas tank. Perhaps it's more common with trucks.
Comment Re:Well put... (Score 3, Funny) 171
I heard it will also simulate the LHC, which makes you wonder why CERN wasted untold billions building the damn thing in the first place.
Comment Re:SSL from now on!!! (Score 1) 619
Bittorrent already has something much better than SSL (for this particular purpose) called Message Stream Encryption that hides the fact that it is even conforming to any particular protocol -- it is, for all outside purposes, a wall of random data from the moment the connection is opened. The only way to identify it is via traffic analysis by recording when packets are sent and how large they are, and even that can't necessarily distinguish bittorrent from other protocols that send lots of data to random people.
I would, however, recommend using SSL for tracker access when possible, as that is completely separate from the actual p2p exchange, and can be used to identify what you are downloading (by the infohash of the torrent). Oh, and of course you should be using SSL/TLS for mail and every website that supports it.
Comment Re:A security update that reduces security (Score 1) 351
Because they won't work on XP anymore. It will not be supported and will no longer receive security updates.
XP receives lots of security updates. I notice every time it installs one without my permission, then interrupts my game of TF2 and forces me to reboot at gunpoint.
Judge Rejects RIAA 'Making Available' Theory 353
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "A federal judge in Connecticut has rejected the RIAA's 'making available' theory, which is the basis of all of the RIAA's peer to peer file sharing cases. In Atlantic v. Brennan, in a 9-page opinion [PDF], Judge Janet Bond Arterton held that the RIAA needs to prove 'actual distribution of copies', and cannot rely — as it was permitted to do in Capitol v. Thomas — upon the mere fact that there are song files on the defendant's computer and that they were 'available'. This is the same issue that has been the subject of extensive briefing in two contested cases in New York, Elektra v. Barker and Warner v. Cassin. Judge Arterton also held that the defendant had other possible defenses, such as the unconstitutionality of the RIAA's damages theory and possible copyright misuse flowing from the record companies' anticompetitive behavior."
Submission + - CPUShare: Grid Computing On The Cheap
Diablo-D3 writes: "Andrea Arcangeli, famed kernel hacker, has decided to take on all the grid computing systems out there and has created CPUShare. As he describes it, "CPUShare allows the home users to profit from the significant power of their hardware that otherwise would be wasted every day," allowing us geeks with a thousand idle computers to profit for other people's need of CPU power."
Submission + - Why Powered USB Is Going to Fail
An anonymous reader writes: Patrick McFarland, famous Free Software Magazine author (featured earlier on Slashdot), has written a two part article about why Powered USB is not taking off at home (part 2 available here). He includes a lengthy history on why USB took off in the first place, and then continues on to explain what we gain by allowing Powered USB to power all our devices.
